AirPods Max engraving makes your headphones ship faster — here's how

AirPods Max engraving
(Image credit: Apple)

AirPods Max engraving might be the key to getting your $549 headphones earlier than expected. Rather than waiting 12-14 weeks (the current shipment estimate for every color), you could have your new cans in just a few weeks.

As pointed out by MacRumors, AirPods Max orders with custom engravings have shorter shipping times than non-personalized orders. Weird, right? We tried it out on the silver model, and sure enough the added engraving — which is free, by the way — knocked more than 4 weeks off our shipping estimate.

We still wouldn't get our AirPods Max with poop emojis until sometime between February 1 and February 5, but that's an improvement over a March 8 through March 22 window.

AirPods Max

(Image credit: Future)

It's odd that a device with personalization takes less time to send out than one that can be sent right off the production line. But it's nonetheless good news to anyone who felt discouraged by the long shipping estimates that arose soon after the AirPods Max became available to pre-order on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, this hack only worked on the silver and space gray models — not the three colorful ones. If you were hoping to score Apple's noise-cancelling headphones sooner in sky blue, green or pink, try checking out with an engraving yourself. Maybe you'll have better luck.

AirPods Max engravings are free as long as you hand over $549 for the actual headphones, and can include emojis, letters and numbers. Once you select the color you want, you'll be given the option to add Apple Care, then to add an personalized engraving.

Kate Kozuch

Kate Kozuch is the managing editor of social and video at Tom’s Guide. She writes about smartwatches, TVs, audio devices, and some cooking appliances, too. Kate appears on Fox News to talk tech trends and runs the Tom's Guide TikTok account, which you should be following if you don't already. When she’s not filming tech videos, you can find her taking up a new sport, mastering the NYT Crossword or channeling her inner celebrity chef.

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